Geography Archives: Saudi Arabia

  • Al Jazeera Promotes Libya’s “Crown Prince” Who Calls for Military Intervention in Libya

    Al Jazeera received a lot of kudos for its exciting coverage of the intifadas in Tunisia and Egypt.  Many of us in the West in particular found it to be a useful source of information, since the Western media’s coverage of them, largely shaped by imperialist preferences as always, was quantitatively lesser and qualitatively worse […]

  • What Is the National Front for the Salvation of Libya?

    In his blog Lenin’s Tomb, Richard Seymour asserts confidently: Because the trouble for the US and UK governments in this revolt is that they really, really don’t want Gadaffi to fall.  Gadaffi is someone with whom they can do business.  By contrast, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, long a leading element in […]

  • Bahrain’s Potential Domino Effect in the Persian Gulf

    On my first nighttime visit to Pearl Square I couldn’t help but notice the immense number of youth amongst the huge gathering of tens of thousands of people in the midst of an atmosphere of joy and victory. University students and teenagers who were able to organize themselves by resorting to the latest trend of social media in the Arab world told me that what they were demanding were basic rights and equality.

  • Egyptian Protests, Grounded in Decades of Struggle, Portend Regional Transformation

    Egypt is throbbing with resistance.  Cairo is cloven between the forces of revolution and those of counterrevolution.  Hundreds of thousands of people — on Tuesday, February 1, well over a million — have been streaming each day into Tahrir Square, the largest plaza in the Arab world, located in the heart of downtown Cairo.  Army […]

  • Will There Be War on Iran?  Two Divergent Views

    In 2002 Iran was added to the neoconservative-designed ‘Axis of Evil’ and thus declared ripe for US military intervention. The threat of war in the ‘greatest crisis of modern times’ (John Pilger in the New Statesman, July 12, 2007) was at its height in 2006-2007.  With President Obama assuming office in 2009, a great hope […]

  • On the Arab Revolt: Interview with Vijay Prashad

    Vijay Prashad is a prominent Marxist scholar from South Asia.  He is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut.  He has written extensively on international affairs for both academic and popular journals.  His most recent book The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the […]

  • Tomorrow’s Tunisia and Egypt: Reform or Revolution?

      Arab uprisings are taking place with the historical speed of light.  I began writing this piece following the downfall of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali and closed with the imminent downfall of the Egyptian one Hosni Mubarak.  The Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings are not, as some armchair pundits called the Tunisian one, Jasmine Revolutions.  They […]

  • “They Want to Abort This Revolution, But We Will Win”: Interview with Nawal El Saadawi

      Amy Goodman: Your feelings today in the midst of this popular rebellion against the Mubarak regime, calling on Mubarak to leave?  Do you agree? Nawal El Saadawi: We are in the streets every day, people, children, old people, including myself.  I am now 80 years of age, suffering of this regime for half a […]

  • The Shifting Balance of Power in the Middle East: The Cases of Egypt and Lebanon

    America’s international standing is under mounting strain on multiple fronts.  Nowhere is this more glaring than in the Middle East, where the balance of influence (and hence power) is shifting away from the United States and toward Iran, Turkey, and their allies.  This trend may, in fact, accelerate as a consequence of ongoing unrest in […]

  • The Lesson of the Tunisian Revolution

    “Saad Hariri went to the United States and had meetings there.  Right after that, the Saudis contacted the Syrians to tell them that they could no longer continue this initiative [of Syria and Saudi Arabia to broker a deal between Hezbollah and Hariri on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon]. . . .  The Americans and […]

  • Violent Media Rhetoric Beyond Tucson: When Some Calls for Violence Are Acceptable

    The discussion of violent and paranoid rhetoric in the media is long overdue, whether or not it is ever determined that accused Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner was somehow influenced or motivated by such rhetoric.  Before the shooting, there had been a remarkable surge of politically motivated violence (FAIR Blog, 1/12/11).  Despite media efforts to […]

  • Ashura in Istanbul

    Yesterday was the 10th day of the Muslim holy month of Muharram — commemorated by Shi’a Muslims for centuries as the holy day of Ashura.  (We send our best wishes to all of our readers who are observing this special time.)  One of our readers highlighted something truly striking that happened yesterday, in connection with […]

  • Lift Sanctions against Iran: Interview with Hooman Majd

      Hooman Majd: Most average Americans, if they only follow the news on Iran the way it is presented, wouldn’t even know that there is a parliament, wouldn’t even know that there are three branches of government in Iran, like America: there’s the executive; there’s the legislative, which is the parliament; and there’s the judiciary.  […]

  • USG’s “Big Investment” in Special Tribunal for Lebanon

      Reference ID Date Classification Origin 08BEIRUT1348 2008-09-15 02:18 SECRET/NOFORN Embassy Beirut VZCZCXRO3042 PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV DE RUEHLB #1348/01 2591418 ZNY SSSSS ZZH P 151418Z SEP 08 FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3034 INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA […]

  • Globalizing Homophobia

    After September 11th, 2001, one of the liberal justifications for the military intervention against Afghanistan was the oppression of women, but also of gays, by the Taliban.  People in Europe and the USA received with shock the news that same-sex couples were publicly executed in the Kabul Stadium by bringing down a wall upon them […]

  • WikiLeaks, Iran, and the US’s Arab Allies: What the Corporate Media Are Not Saying

    The corporate media are reliable and consistent.  They consistently focus on the sensational, and they reliably take the position of the US government.  So, it should come as no surprise that the recent release of US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks is being covered with much sound and fury, signifying little. On the sensational and gossip-mongering […]

  • Contrary to Media Spin on WikiLeaks Release, Iran Is Hugely Popular among Arabs

    The media spin on the latest batch of WikiLeaks revelations gives the impression that, next to Israel, it’s the Arab states that are most energetically pressuring the U.S. to attack Iran.  In terms of the real threat to Iran, that’s definitely putting the cart before the horse. In the first place, the Arab governments mentioned […]

  • No Fracking Way! PA: Exemption without Taxation in the “Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas”

    Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Tom Corbett, Governor-Elect for Pennsylvania: It’s now time to come together, to tell the rest of the world — to tell the rest of the world Pennsylvania is open for business. Jesse Freeston: And that business is natural gas.  Pennsylvania’s race was unique in that it was fought primarily […]

  • Can the United States Save Itself in the Middle East?

    Last month, the New America Foundation and the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST) sponsored a conference in Washington, entitled “Cutting the Fuse: Moving beyond the War on Terror.”  The conference was sparked by the publication of a new book by CPOST’s director, Robert Pape, and James Feldman, entitled Cutting the Fuse: […]

  • The Death Penalty, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the European Parliament

    What does the USA have in common with China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea?  You would hardly guess, but the European Parliament stated loud and all too clear on October 2nd: those are the countries which put lots of people to death.  In a long, detailed resolution, approved almost unanimously by 574 members […]